Improved apparatus for rolling- and notching- rails for railroads



' To all whom 'it may parts in the several figures.

naasten WILLIAMOFFMAN, or PITTsBURG,iPENNsYLVANiA.

` `Laim Patent No. 89,831, dated Mayi, 1869. i

narnovnnnrrmrus Fon ROLLING AND No'rcnma- RAILS Fon AILnoAns.

' The 4Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and part of the same.

Be it known that I,'W1 `LL1AM HOFFMAN, of .Pittsburg, vin the county f Allegheny, and State of Penusylvania, have invented anew and useful Improve ment in "the Construction of Rails for ,Street or 0ty Cars; and'I 'dolhereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description thereof', reference being had to the acccmpanying drawings, making part of this specificatiomin which-- Similar' `letters of reference indicate corresponding Figures 1 are `perspective views' of Y,indented rails, the indentations being shown therein at f, the object of the invention beingtoimprovethe L-shaped rails which are used lon street-car tracks, by forming indentations onthe innerand outer (if foundnecessary) edges of the elevated or bearing partof the rail, of such shape as will allowthe'wheels of vehicles to roll freely over` the rails in oblique directions, particularly vwhen turning on' the track.

` It will be seen that the lfaces of the indentations are, inclined surfaces, making equal' angles with the edges of the rail, and intersecting each other in a line, which, springing 4fronrthe lower edge of the bearing part of the rail, cuts the upper surface of the rail at about three-quartersof an inch from its inner edge,

thus forming an inclinedsurface up which wheels will readily roll, in whichever direction they approach the indentation. i

It is manifestly better to have but one indentation toserVe for both directions, rather than have separate and independentright andleft indentations, thus y doublingthe number required; andas vehicles in crossing the rails from the outside have more room to make a turn in approaching the rails, an indenta'V tionronatheoutside is not so essential, and may in s' be dispensed with.A

pecially designed for street-car tracks,

`,anditlwi11; .allow vehicles to pass freely on and oi the track, without the liability of straining or breaking .their wheels or spreading thev rails.

The indentations arepexpectedto be about four and 4onefhalffiricles'long and two to three feet apart.

The finachinery for rolling these rails is asfollows: Figure 1 is a front elevation of that part of a roll- 4 ingfmachine which `is adapted for .producing notches ',.in-gtheedges of rails.

' Figure 21is a top view of this machine.

.i Figure 3 isa section through `the machine, taken :in-the vertical plane indicated by red line :t x, in iig.

[1, showing a rail inthe actof being notched `or indented. g

. `O O' represent two cylindrical rollers, having their end-bearings in journal-boxes. which are supported in upright'standards A A. 4

Y B is a bed, upon Awhich a small guide and feedroller is supported, by means of journal-boxes E E.

This bedB is arrangedin a hor'montal plane, in proper position and relation to the space between the horizontal rollers for guiding the rail om its work.

lhe Y upper roller C" is constructed with two cylindrical enlargements upon one end of it, which leaveI shoulders a a', and the lower roller O is constructed with one cylindrical contracted or reducedportion,v

which leaves a shoulder, g. l This shoulder g on roller C' receives the outer edge of the rail; the shoulder c; on'O -receives the inner edge f of the elevated or bearing portion of the rail; andthe shoulder a receives-the inner edge of the rail-base, as shown in iig. 1.

It will be seen, by reference to fig. 1, that the two rollers O C' are shaped so as to receive be'- tween them and between their shoulders an L-shaped rail, and preventthe metal of a rail from spreading laterally during the passage of aV rail between these. rollers.

4The roller D, beneath passage from the rollers O C', is constructed with a reduced cylindrical portion, which; leaves a shoulder,

la, that receives the perpendicularinner edge f cfa rail, while the two parallel guides c c on the bed B, receive between them the inner and outer edges of a rail, while it is being fed between therollers O C'.r

By thus constructing lthe rollers and guides, it will be seen that the sections of railwill be rmly held f and properly guided during the operation of finishing them and giving to them their nal shape.

It should be understood that previous to the use of the rollers C O', the rail-bars must be passed successively betweenthe rollers of well-known rolling- 4 machinery, and thus prepared for receiving the final shape given to them by the rollers C Of.

At asuitable point or points upon the shoulder e of roller C, a bolster, c', is formed, of such shape 4and size as will produce thenotche's, or indenta-v tons j' upon the inner edge f of -the rail-bars, dur# ing the passage of these bars be/tween the finishingrollers. l

' `This tooth is the counterpart of the notches j, and 1 forms these notches upon a rail while it isrconned laterally between the shoulders a c' g, and confined vertically between the two rollers O 0'; consequently thel metal of the rail cannot be distorted by the upsetting action of the tooth t', and. all that metal which is displaced to leave the notches will be forced into the `body of the thereby condensing the metal and solidifying the rail. ,i

It -will be seen that the inclinations of the tooth t ae toward the rail-bearing Gr, and that the metal will be crowded and condensed into said bearing, and thus harden this portion, which is subjected to the wear of the car-wheels.

` I am aware that Letters ,Patent of the United States were granted to T. M. Schleier, on the 20th'of December, 1864, for a notched Tshaped railroad-rail,

but he proposes no mode of rolling such rails, and it which a rail passesin its is doubtful whether his notch can be made in the lip What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letof a. rail of such form as he describes, by any known ters Patent, is-

process of rolling; and, besides, he proposes to cut a Rolls constructed and applied substantially as denotch for each direction, which, if practicable at all, scribed for making railroad-mils with notches'in them, would very greatly injure the rail, by cutting in so substantially as described.

many places` through that part olf the rail which W. HOFFMAN. it has been found most diiicult to give suicient strength to by making it of steel or specially hard- Witnesses:

` cned iron. JULIUs HIRscH,

The crushed rails which are so frequently seen on R. T. CAMPBELL. railroads sufficiently attest the truth of this. 

